Baron Fava to Mr. Olney.
Washington , August 11, 1896 .
Mr. Secretary of State: By telegram dated to-day, the acting consul of Italy at New Orleans confirms to me the news reported by yesterday’s newspapers of the brutal lynching, on the night of the 8th to 9th instant, of three Italian subjects who were confined in the jail at Hahnville, La., and, consequently, under the immediate custody and protection of the American authorities.
In calling the attention of the Federal Government to this new deed of blood, I am instructed by His Majesty’s Government, and I have the honor, to request your excellency to have the goodness to inform me what measures have been taken for the pursuit and trial of the guilty parties and for the prevention of the repetition of such outrages against the safety of Italian citizens coming to settle in this country, and to whom the treaties in force assure the protection of these laws and these authorities.
[Page 397]As I am well aware of the lofty sense of justice which characterizes your excellency, I trust that I shall soon be enabled to inform my Government that no means have been left untried by the United States Government to have the instigators and perpetrators of the inhuman murder to which I have called attention above sought for without delay and brought before the proper courts.
Accept, etc.,